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Updated: May 2, 2026

Electrochemically and Bioelectrochemically Induced Ammonium Recovery
Published on: January 22, 2015
Autotrophic ammonia removal from landfill leachate in anaerobic membrane bioreactor
Abstract:
Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) process, an advanced biological nitrogen removal, removes ammonia using nitrite as the electron acceptor without oxygen. In this paper, ANAMMOX process was adopted for removing NH4+-N from landfill leachate having low COD using anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). The AnMBR was optimized for nitrogen loading rate (NLR) varying from 0.025 to 5 kg NH4+-N/m3/d with hydraulic retention time (HRT) ranging from 1 to 3d. NH4+-N removal efficacy of 85.13 +/- 9.67% with the mean nitrogen removal rate of 5.54 +/- 0.63 kg NH4+-N/m3/d was achieved with NLR of 6.51 +/- 0.20kg NH4+-N/m3/d at 1.5 d HRT. The nitrogen transformation intermediates in the form of hydrazine (N2H4) and hydroxylamine (NH2OH) were 0.008 +/- 0.005 and 0.006 +/- 0.001 mg/l, respectively, indicating co-existence of aerobic ammonia oxidizers and ANAMMOX. The free ammonia (NH3) and free nitrous acid (HNO2) concentrations were 26.61 +/- 16.54 mg/l and (1.66 +/- 0.95) x 10(-5) mg/l, preventing NO2(-)-N oxidation to NO3(-)-N enabling sustained NH4+-N removal.
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